MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Booker Coplin and Henry Mulligan combined for 47 points as Augsburg University pulled away in the second half for an 85-57 victory over the St. Olaf College men's basketball team on Wednesday night at Si Melby Hall.
Augsburg (4-1, 2-0 MIAC) led by just six at halftime but used a 13-3 run early in the second half to build a double-digit lead over St. Olaf (4-3, 1-2 MIAC) and never looked back. Coplin scored a game-high 27 points on 10-for-19 shooting while adding 11 rebounds and eight assists, with Mulligan sinking five three-pointers on his way to 20 points.
Sophomroe
Carter Uphus scored a career-high 11 points to lead the way for the Oles and was joined in double figures by senior
Noah Beck with 10. Senior
Nate Albers added nine points.
Uphus scored six of St. Olaf's first eight points over the first three and a half minutes of the game, as the teams were locked in an 8-8 tie early on. After the Oles held a 13-10 lead, consecutive three-pointers by Coplin 32 seconds apart swung the lead back to Augsburg, 16-13.
A mini 5-0 run by the Auggies gave the hosts a 21-15 lead midway through the half and another 5-0 spurt pushed the Augsburg lead to 26-17 with 6:14 remaining before the break. A three-pointer by Henry Mulligan a minute later gave the Auggies their largest lead of the half at 29-19.
The Oles made four-straight shots from the field to get back within five, 35-30, inside the final three minutes of the half and went into the locker room down six, 39-33, after Beck closed the half with a three-pointer. Coplin scored Augsburg's final six points of the half to give him 14 at the break.
St. Olaf scored on its first three possessions to get within three, 41-38, in the first two minutes of the second half before Augsburg pulled away with a 13-3 run to go ahead by double figures. Mulligan ignited the run with a three-pointer and made four threes in the first 6:13 of the half, as the Auggies built a 62-44 lead.
Augsburg led by at least 16 and as many as 31 the rest of the way after shooting 8-for-14 (57.1 percent) from behind the arc in the second half.
St. Olaf returns home to host Hamline on Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. at Skoglund Center.
